


Granddaughter Dearest

by buckythevampireslayer



Series: Centurion's Companions [3]
Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Centurion's Companions, Friendship, Gen, School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-13
Updated: 2012-09-13
Packaged: 2017-11-14 03:13:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/510717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckythevampireslayer/pseuds/buckythevampireslayer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rory runs into Susan one day while she's walking home from school-- literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Granddaughter Dearest

**Author's Note:**

> This one takes place in 1963 (obviously) a few months before An Unearthly Child. It also references other pieces that have been planned out and partially written, but not posted yet, so the bits you don't understand come from those.
> 
> Completely unbeta-ed. Only people who have read it are myself and my younger sister, any mistakes are her fault. Just kidding, they're mine. (They're really hers.)

Rory walked down the street, bored out of his mind since Fitz had vanished. He was pretty certain that he had gone off with the Doctor that was even more air-headed than his and Amy’s, and he was glad for that. He and Fitz were similar, and that sort of adventure might be just what he needed to develop any sort of confidence. He loved the kid like a brother, but he really needed to work on his self-image. 

Engrossed in his thoughts of Fitz, how he was, and what he might be up to, he didn’t notice the young girl walking in the other direction, books overflowing in her arms, until he had stumbled backwards and she was on the ground, her school stuff scattered on the street around them.

“Oh, bollocks, I am so sorry,” Rory said as he bent down to help her gather her things. The girl shook her head. 

“It’s fine. I’m nearly home as it is, I’ll just… re-organize it all there.” She bit her lip as she looked at the sheer number of papers that she had, her face falling. Rory felt a small tug in his chest.

“Do you want me to help you carry it home?” The girl’s eyes went wide as she shook her head vehemently. 

“Oh, no. No, Grandfather wouldn’t like that, he doesn’t want me bringing people home,” she explained, still shaking her head. Rory raised an eyebrow at the way she said it, but he chose not to comment. 

“Well, will you at least tell me where you live so I can make sure it’s not too far away?” he pressed. She shook her head again. 

“No. It’s not far, I swear, I’ll be there in less than five minutes.” Rory handed her the stack of books and papers that he had collected and looked around to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. 

“If you’re sure.” He stood up and held a hand out to her, which she took with a grateful smile before hoisting up the insane amount of books. “I’m Rory, by the way.”

“Susan,” she said with a friendly grin. “I’d shake your hand, but…” she trailed off with a laugh, gesturing as well as she could with her full arms. Rory smiled back at her. 

“Yeah, don’t want to make you drop those again.” He narrowed his eyes in concern as he looked at her again. “Don’t you have a backpack or something to carry those in?” Susan shook her head. 

“No. Grandfather never bought me one, so I just don’t have one.” His eyebrows pulled a little closer together. He wasn’t sure how much he liked the sound of this grandfather of hers. He seemed like he wasn’t a good man to have raising you. 

“Alright.” He decided not to press the subject. He really knew nothing about it, it was none of his business. He could hear Mels’ voice in his head teasing him for his bleeding heart and caring so much about this girl who he had just met, and not because he wanted to get in her pants. Mels had always insisted that he was different from other people because of that, but really he just wanted to help everyone he could. It was the reason he became a nurse. 

Susan shifted awkwardly on her feet and gave him a slightly more timid smile. “I should get going. He’s going to worry if I’m not home on time.” She gave him a look like she knew exactly what he was thinking. “Grandfather’s actually very nice, he takes good care of me. He’s a little absent-minded at times, a little easily distracted by himself and everything around him, that’s all.” 

Rory nodded. Sounded like the Doctor, and Amy at times for that matter. He could understand absent-mindedness and getting distracted. It made him feel slightly better about it as he waved good-bye to Susan and started back on his walk, glancing over his shoulder every couple of feet to make sure she was okay. 

So maybe he did have a bleeding heart. He thought it was a good thing. And really, what went on in this Susan girl’s life was none of his business. 

\-----

Standing in line at the general store, Rory felt a little out of place. Everyone around him was in a group with their family, buying food and having a good time. He hadn’t eaten in almost two thousand years. Soon, he reminded himself. Soon he would have Amy back and they would be together again, they would get married, have a family of their own. Less than forty years and he would have the most important woman in his universe back for him.

He reached the register and smiled at the man running it, waiting for his items to get rung up. He gave him a thankful nod before throwing the things into a bag and hurrying out of the store. He checked his watch; there was still half an hour before the school let out. He should be able to make it to the same corner of town where he had run into Susan the day before just in time.

He was glad that he was an Auton, it meant he didn’t need to breathe or drink water like regular people, and he could run the whole way to the corner without breaking a sweat. He’d never been able to do that before; his PE coach would have been so proud of him. If he’d been able to run like this when he was a kid, he probably would have avoided a lot of problems from the other students on the playground. 

Slowing down as he reached the corner, Rory looked around. He couldn’t see any sign of her yet, but a quick glance at his watch told him he still had ten minutes before he should be expecting her anyways. Picking a random wall, he leaned against it and ignored the graffiti—Bad Wolf, really, what did that even mean—and waited for Susan to make an appearance. 

After twenty minutes with no sign of her, he was about to give up and leave when he saw a familiar head of short, dark hair on top of a tiny body with far too many books coming around the corner and down the street. He pushed off from his wall and waved at her with what he hoped was a friendly smile. He must have succeeded, because while she looked relatively surprised to see him, she smiled back and half-skipped up to him.

“Are you waiting for me?” she asked as soon as she was close enough to be heard. Rory shrugged. 

“Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking. I wanted to give you this.” He opened the bag from the store to reveal a nice book-bag and file folders for her to put papers in. Susan’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she stared at it. 

“You… got this for me?” She blinked a few times in confusion.

“Well, you said you didn’t have on, and you’ve got so much stuff I figured that wasn’t fair, so, yeah, I did.” He shrugged again and held the bag out, not seeing the big deal.

“But didn’t it cost a lot?” 

“I’ve got a lot of money that I’m not doing anything with. Just take it,” he insisted. Susan leaned down tentatively to set down her things and took the bag, pulling the backpack out of it. She stared at it in awe for a moment, turning it over in her hands before dropping it and throwing her arms around Rory’s neck. He froze momentarily before hugging her back lightly.

“Thank you! This is the best present anyone’s ever gotten me.” Susan smiled broadly at him as she pulled back and leaned down to put her things in the backpack, smiling even more when it all fit and she could sling it over her shoulders. “Really, Rory. Thank you.”

Rory smiled back and shrugged again. “It’s not a problem. I like to help people, it’s what I do.” Susan nodded.

“Right, well, I’ve got to get back home, I’m already late and Grandfather will be worrying.” She started off again before turning back to him. “Will you be here again?”

“Who knows,” Rory said mysteriously, wiggling his fingers. Susan giggled and turned around again.

Rory watched her walk off, his smile dropping off and turning to a look of concern and confusion when she turned into the Foreman junk yard. Curiously, he followed her. As he poked his head around the corner, he saw Susan opening a door to a very familiar Police call box and dropped his jaw. As the shock wore off, he began shaking his head.

“The Doctor’s a grandfather.” A huge smile split across his face. “Oh, he is never living that one down.” 

 


End file.
